This being the only chance to see Iggy & The Stooges in London this year made the first night of this otherwise rather odd annual attempt at a music festival in the centre of town essential for me. The first night is also the closest the festival actually comes to being 'Hard Rock' because, let's face it, Paul Simon and Lady Antebellum really don't have any raawwk in them.
Walking into a deserted and very large field with room for 80,000 some two hours after the gates opened, we found our feet crunching down on some of the 8000 cubic metres of wood chip that has been spread on the site since the Night of Music Hell on Wednesday when the PWL Allstars got cancelled due to waterlogged grounds. Or lack of ticket sales. With that line up I hope it was the latter disguised as the former.
The skies as ever this summer in London are grey and forbidding and it's chilly enough that you need a coat. A couple of thousand early birds had got there to see Black Stone Cherry who came on just as we arrived. I was kinda hoping to arrive as they finished but no such luck as I hadn't figured out where the other stages where in time.
You may have guessed I'm not a BLACK STONE CHERRY fan. Last time I saw them, I walked after 3 songs to go do something less boring instead. They were also bottom of a large bill that day as it seems their turgid southern rock will never rise much higher in the UK as basically we seem to be over that kind of plodding beer soaked frat rock for guys who were at college in 1972. Don't get me wrong, they can really play well and on songs like Blind Man really wail at it. The singer also has a good voice but the lyrics on songs LIke I Roll and White Trash Millionaire are just too obvious and they just seem to all sound the same. A very one note band indeed.
As they finished the heavens opened for the first time and we dashed off in search of a tent to shelter in and found ourselves in Little Steven's tent where KOO KOO KITCHEN still had a couple of songs to play. They are a Norweigan female-fronted Fjord filling indie band but I had forgotten almost everything about them by the time the rain gave over enough for us to venture back down the field for some Aussie Legends.
Now the crowd swelled considerably the moment Australian pub rock legends COLD CHISEL appeared on stage as part of their first UK tour since 1982. I have known of the band's reputation for years and have to say it's cool to have seen them, especially as they still feature all the surviving members of the classic line up, save for recently departed Steve Preswitch being replaced by Charlie Drayton on the drums. Yes that is the drummer from the Divinyls in case you were wondering.
From the moment they started with Standing On The Outside, all the Aussies and New Zealanders went mental and sang along with everything. They got a hell of a good vibe going with Jimmy Barnes' Glasweigan rasp in full throated glory and he was squeezed into leather trousers maybe 3 sizes too small for him as you'd expect.
They sing about getting drunk and working hard and Cheap Wine was one of the big singalongs and I think the first song of the set I recognised. Rising Sun got a huge cheer and its subject matter is hilarious.It's the true story of how one of the band started dating the daughter of the Japanese ambassador to Australia and he was so appalled at her choice of boyfriend he forceably took her back to Japan! Only for the guitarist I think it was to fly over and win her back(!) The fact she was standing on the side of the stage only makes the song all the more emotional.
Now the Cold Chisel sound is very dated. They play it like they mean it and love being back for the army of fans. For me, one of the highlights of the set was You've got Nothing I want. That had Jimmy's vocals full of bile at the bitter end of a relationship just howling into the void as the chugging bluesy riff takes over behind him.
Obviously they kept Khe Sanh for near the end of the set as it's considered as like the second Aussie National Anthem. It's actually a very spirited anti-war song about the stupidity of the Australian Army's involvement in Vietnam which was still relevant when it was written in 1973 or 4. It also had some mad dancing going on around us to it and only the non-anzacs weren't singing along. They closed the set with Bow River and left to a huge roar of approval after a very good set of swaggering pub rock delivered to an appeciative park.
Well next on and with the crowd still growing now to about 15 to 20 thousand, it's time for the current line up of IGGY & THE STOOGES and the same line-up that played at Down at the Hop farm with Scott Asheton still on the bench and Iggy not back to 100% fitness after breaking his leg last year.
It still didn't the band from kicking the hell out of Hyde Park and opening with the primal riffs of Raw Power. Even though Iggy is visibly limping his voice is in excellent order even if this is far more primal than on his recent solo album.
Search & Destroy still sounded vital and is the second song about Vietnam of the festival. With his head full of napalm, Iggy was once more screaming down the place and James Williamson attacked his guitar like he was strafeing us with notes. Gimme Danger had some of Mike Watt's best growling bass as Iggy implored us to "Gimme Danger,Little Stranger."
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Well it was soon 1970 once more and I Feel Alright as did most of the audience as Iggy belted it out and moved around as much as he could. Even in slightly impaired form, he still moves more than most front men, twisting and turning and dancing as Steve McKay blows his sax and we get ready for the full frontal Jazz Punk glory of Fun House that lead (after a free jazz honking end) into Night Theme: the instrumental from Kill City that gave Iggy a chance to go off for a breather and then come back refreshed to prove that he is still Beyond The Law.
Iggy was soon howling that He Wants to be your dog and ain't no-one in this field that won't let him. I Got A Right is a song that seems to get more and more relevant and the years go by and with the Bruce Springsteen curfew busting argument still to happen, Iggy reminds us ahead of time that we all have the right to move no matter what they say! Iggy has a list of what's Not Fun for us before he leads the band into this punk classic and we all wail along NO FUN...
Johanna has been a live favourite of Iggy's for ever and sounded great tonight. After that, they built to a close with a great version if Kill City that was followed by a good jazz skronk punk rock mayhem version of Open Up And Bleed which allowed Iggy to leave first and then have the band leave one at a time as they slowly faded it out to finish a damn fierce set.
Well after that it was time for some bad festival food before headliners SOUNDGARDEN with the place at best half full. They came out and opened with Searching With My Good Eye Closed and played a setlist that was available on a phone app before the gig (!) as that's how spontaneous a band they are. However, they sounded just as they did the only other time I saw them at Reading many years ago, and Chris Cornell's voice has weathered the passing of time.
Spoon man and Gun both sounded ok but lacking excitement somewhat after the Stooges who Chris Cornell acknowledged he was thrilled to be sharing a bill with.
Jesus Christ Pose was better and sounded as good as it always did, but just as they played the opening notes of Black Hole Sun and the crowd started to go nuts, the heavens opened and as they sung about "hoping to wash away the rain" down it came in relentless sheets soaking everyone, refusing to let up for most of the rest of the set. Oddly, this seemed to really help them step up a gear just as we were starting to shiver in the cold and rain of London in summery July.
Yes, Outshined by the rain falling on them as the low end riffs ground on and Hunted Down anyone not into it. They might have wanted to Blow Up The Outside world, but most of us just wanted to blow up the rain clouds as we had indeed Fallen On Black Days. So black indeed that Chris told us that when they come back and tour again it will be with new material, which may give them a shot of energy they need. Or just might lose many of the fans happy to see the greatest hits we are treated to tonight, but that of course is just the Ugly Truth that they play next.
Well while Iggy was Beyond the law Soundgarden are Beyond the Wheel which doesn't make quite as much sense. It was too much to hope that the rain might stop during Let Me Drown and without all the woodchip it might have been possible as sodden as we all were. Still Pretty Noose sounded ferocious with some great grinding guitars.
Superunknown is still one of the band's best known tunes and we got a scorching version as they joked about having another couple of hours to play before closing with 4th July.
There was just about enough applause to justify them coming back far an encore of Rusty Cage that is still a good mosh friendly hit even if there was no sign of any moshing going on before they finished the show with Slaves and Bulldozers. It was a good set but I'm not sure I'd go and see them playing one full of all new songs.
After the show, it was still early enough for me to go home and have a quick shower and change into some dry clean clothes so I could go and hear The Stooges' guitar tech Derek See playing a DJ set at the Boogaloo in Highgate. Derek played some really rare Mod and Northern Soul singles and it was a cool end to a mostly enjoyable evening.
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